Alex’s eyes flickered open after something wet dripped onto his forehead. He went to move his hand to his head and noticed it wasn’t just his head that had gotten wet. The ground around him had practically flooded during his impromptu nap. Looking at the ceiling of his little cavern, droplets of water were forming all over the place. V.V. was buzzing around different parts of the walls and using telekinesis to pat them into a harder form.
“Uuung…” Alex groaned as he attempted to sit up from his nearly prone position. V.V. took note of him coming too.
“Ah! You’re finally awake from your nap. Our schedule is off, but we should still consider moving to a new location.” V.V. said as she continued to keep the tunnel from flooding.
“…How long was I out?” Alex asked, groggily.
“Approximately two hours. Nothing major but still an inconvenience. Getting to shelter that is less likely to collapse on us before your next nap would be best.”
“Sorry… Do people always go unconscious when they acquire skills?”
“Hmm… No, but you’re also exhausted. You also tried to add four Class abilities at once, that could be a part of the issue. I’ve heard of Users who acquire many skills and abilities at the same time and have no issues at all. Once you’re well rested, we can test whether you will go unconscious with different types of skills.”
“You sound excited about testing whether my brain melts out of my ears or not and I feel more than exhausted… That ‘nap’ didn’t feel rejuvenating at all…” Alex said, slumping more into the drenched wall.
“I’m curious whether we can find a solution or not. Also, your body was absorbing your new skills while you were unconscious so maybe that’s why you don’t feel any more rested than you did before.”
“I guess… Do we move now?” Alex asked, hoping V.V. was going to say no.
“Yes.”
“Crap…”
As Alex collected himself and crawled towards the entrance, V.V. continued to focus on keeping the muddy walls from collapsing. Once he got to the domed enclosure, Opal cancelled the Dome of Protection and exposed Alex to a well lit but storm clouded sky. The rain was mild at that moment, but it had to have been more severe earlier for the ground to be as saturated as it was. Looking around him, Alex could see they were near the center of the clearing with trees on every side of him. He quickly lifted himself out of the hole and stood straight for the first time in hours. He stretched his back and felt satisfying pops ripple down his spine. As he was about to take a step towards a somewhat large boulder sticking out of the ground, he heard a slushing sound behind him. He turned in time to see V.V. zoom out of the hole to the tunnel and then watched as the ground suddenly sagged and collapsed into what had just been his place of refuge.
“…Did you do that, or did it just collapse on its own?” Alex said, confused as to why it would just suddenly do that.
“I stopped holding the walls up, so yes and no.” V.V. said, spinning in place for a moment to dislodge a bit of the muck.
“In that case, thanks for not letting me get smushed.” Alex said, glad once more for his brilliant decision to use a token to bring V.V. into his life.
“Naturally. We should move while the rain is still falling. Even Mana Warped creatures won’t want to move around in the rain if they can avoid it.”
“Ah, that’s good to know.” Alex said and started to follow as V.V. led the way into another thickly wooded area.
They began to cut their way through the dense shrubbery once again but at least there were no monsters directly behind them this time. As they went, Alex used his new weapon, Small Blade of Infestation to hack away at the brush around him. The blade was sharp but what really devastated the foliage was the effects of the blade. The lush green life of the plants withered away as he sliced his way through them. While he was pleased with how effective the blade was, it also bothered him how devastating the effects were. If he so much as pricked his finger on the blade, he was worried that Emeralds healing may not be enough. He shivered at the thought of his hand rotting off in front of his eyes and just having to sit there and watch it happen. He pushed that disturbing imagery away and decided to focus on something more appealing, new skills!
Call Orb (1): Teleports an Active Orb or Orblet to the User from a certain distance.
Range: 30ft
Cast Time: 5s
Cooldown: 5m
AbsOrb (1): Pull User owned Orbs into the User to Empower the User for a certain duration.
Range: 1ft
Cast Time: 5s
Cooldown: 12h
ResOrb (1): Quickly resummon Orbs owned by the User.
Cast Time:1m
Cooldown:10m
Healing Orblet (1): Summons a Healing Orblet for a time under the User’s control.
Cast Time: 10s
Duration: 5m
Cooldown:30m
Alex brought up the list of his new Class skills and was happy to see that it at least gave some details for how far away and how long each skill took to active. After looking them over he decided to try them out. Ahead of him V.V. was steadily snapping tree limbs and bushes apart to make way for Alex and behind his companion, Ruby and Opal were doing the same but less vigorously than V.V. Emerald and Saphire floated around Alex, snapping anything that came too close to poking him and watching his back for any threats. Alex had Sapphire fly back down the path they’d cut through to what he estimated to be around twenty feet away and then activated Call Orb to bring the blue marble back to him. For a moment he thought Sapphire was just going to fly back to him before there was a soft pop sound and Sapphire appeared directly in front of him. His smile spread across his face as he’d finally felt like he’d used Magic. Sure, his Orbs and V.V. were definitely magical, and he'd used Scour, but soap could do something similar. He’d made his Orb disappear and reappear. That was magic that had just come out of him, and he’d been the one to do it. Excitement bubbled up inside him as he looked to the next skill to try.
“V.V! I just cast my first spell!” Alex whisper yelled to V.V, as the threat of being jumped by random roided out animals hadn’t fully left his thoughts yet. Over the mild shower that was ongoing, he probably could have been louder, but it wasn’t necessary as V.V. turned towards him.
“A spell? Ah, your new Class skill. Congratulations, Alex. You did use a skill earlier though, if you do recall.” V.V. said as she went back to snapping twigs with such ferocity, you’d think they’d killed her family.
“Ah, well… That one’s a little less impressive. I can make my Orbs teleport! That’s nuts!”
“I suppose from the perspective of flashiness, teleportation does seem more interesting than removing mud from yourself without the use of a cloth.” V.V. said, concluding that there was in fact a difference between the two skills. If she could shrug, she probably would have in that moment before she went back to her vegetation massacre.
“Absolutely.” Alex said, a smile still plastered on his face. He looked to the next skills and paused. AbsOrb had a twelve hour cooldown and although he really wanted to try it; he couldn’t risk needing it between where they were now and their next shelter. If he found a safe place to settle down then he’d give it a try then. Looking at ResOrb, one of his Orbs would have to be destroyed to test it and he wasn’t about to hurt one of his colorful buddies. They may not be sentient, but it’d be like cutting off his own hand as far as he was concerned. That wasn’t happening. So finally, he turned to Summon Healing Orblet and smiled again.
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A small flash and pop later and a dime sized green marble floated in front of Alex. The Orblet immediately floated over to Alex, floated around his head a few times and then made a slow spiral around Alex’s body all the way down to his feet and back up again. After it had made a full circuit around Alex, the tiny sphere shot over to V.V. and began to orbit around his companion. It floated around V.V. several times before returning to Alex and repeating the process.
“Uh… Is it automatic or do I have to do something?” Alex asked V.V.
“It should be operating automatically as you suggested. If you want it to heal something or someone that isn’t considered part of your ‘party’ then you’d have to command it. Otherwise, just let it do its thing.” V.V. didn’t stop to answer Alex and instead plucked some green berries hanging from a bush before tearing the bush into mulch and depositing the berries into her storage.
Alex watched V.V. for a moment, shrugged and continued to hack away at the foliage as well. All the while the tiny healer did circuit after circuit around himself and V.V. Eventually five minutes passed and the ‘pop’ of the Orblet returning to wherever the heck it had come from could be heard. Several hours later Alex wasn’t so much tired as he was starving. He was surprised he’d been able to hack away continuously for so long but now he needed to fill his demanding stomach. Like any other time that he wanted his Orbs to do something; he didn’t need to command or ask them to create food for him, they simply did. Both Ruby and Opal came back to Alex and hovered above his hands in order to use their Spell: Summon Sustenance. He wasn’t sure how much food would be created or in what form it would come out as but he held his hands out hoping it was filling at least.
Fwoom
An odd noise came from both Ruby and Opal as they activated their spells in unison. A bright light appeared below each Orb and Alex was forced to close his eyes. When he opened them again, his left hand was filled with what seemed to be blueberries and his right hand was wrapped around some kind of bread pastry. After sniffing the pastry, Alex hungrily took a bite and his mouth was met with what he could only describe as pure bliss. He savored what turned out to be some kind of meat pie as he took another and then another bite. It was over far too quickly and Alex wanted more. He was forced to settle with the berries as dessert. He popped all twenty or so berries into his mouth and chewed them. While not as tasty or filling as the meat pie, he wasn’t disappointed with them either. Having finally consumed something in who knew how long, Alex caught back up to V.V. and continued to move further into never ending forest.
More time had gone by, and Alex was finally starting to feel the strain of deforestation on his body. His arms still cut cleanly through anything that needed to be severed but he was feeling sluggish. As pain started to build in his arms, Emerald would get closer to use its Aura on him. While this allowed him to continue, his body was starting to shut down. If he didn’t rest soon, he could see himself collapsing, again.
“V.V… I need a break…” Alex called ahead.
“That’s acceptable. We’ve made up more distance than I thought due to not having to fight our way through the forest. The rain has added a nice advantage it seems.” V.V. said and started to dig out a hole right at the spot they had stopped at to talk.
“Underground again?” Alex asked, getting tired of voluntarily burying himself.
“It’s much safer than sitting exposed on the surface. I don’t detect any convenient caves nearby, unfortunately.”
“Right… But it’s raining.”
“I’ve come up with a clever solution to that.” V.V. said with pride in her tinny voice. She continued to scoop large chunks of mud out and pile it into one side of the path. Ruby and Opal joined in to assist in the excavation.
“Uh, what’s the clever plan?” Alex asked after it seemed that V.V. wasn’t going to share the brilliant strategy with him.
“Hmm? Oh yes. We will dig down and create a large enough space that Opal can cast Dome of Protection underground. I’ll create an opening large enough for you to climb inside while also removing any excess mud. Brilliant indeed.”
“Ok, that sounds good but what if the hole fills with water?” Alex said, somewhat skeptical about his companion’s plan.
“The hole will fill with water over time but the opening to the dome will be high enough to keep it out. Also, I’ll continue to remove more mud and water as needed. We can rest here for an hour and then we should move again. The water shouldn’t be an issue during that time.”
“Ok.” Was all Alex could say to that. He was too tired to even attempt to see any errors in V.V.’s logic and just wanted an actual nap. He leaned against a relatively thick sapling as his companions worked to clear out the hole.
Alex had started to nod off while V.V. and the Orbs worked but finally, he was brought back to alertness by a loud rumble. He looked around and didn’t see anything in the brush or down the path they’d come from. His Orbs didn’t seem bothered by the sound either, so he allowed himself to calm down a bit and ask V.V. Before the words came out of his mouth, V.V. popped out of the hole just to his left and spoke.
“Alex, the dome has been made and I’ve removed a piece that I believe is large enough to accommodate you.” V.V. then proceeded to zip back into the hole.
Alex sat for a moment before scooting over to the hole on his hands and knees to look inside. The ground was very soft but still firm enough that he felt that he was going to collapse the side he was leaning over. Looking down it just looked like a five-foot hole, but he could make out an alcove on one side. He slid his legs over the opening and allowed himself to fall the few feet to the bottom. He was met by Opal and Ruby who were packing the mud around the outside of the dome to create extra support. He was confused by what they were doing as he hadn’t wanted them to do it but he was glad that they were. V.V. said that his Orbs weren’t sentient, but they did things even when he wasn’t awake. His mind started to run away with that line of thought when V.V. broke him out of his musings.
“Alex, see if you’re able to crawl through the opening I made.” V.V. said as she appeared from within the dome.
“Right…” Alex said, both tired and confused as to why Opal had even made the dome. Now that he thought about it, Opal had made the last dome while he was unconscious, didn’t it? Strange stuff was happening, and that made Alex laugh to himself. The idea that he thought his Orbs doing helpful things while he was asleep was what he was finding strange now. The giant turkey, goats, worms and skunk? Meh, old news as far as he was concerned. What’s weird about that stuff? Alex climbed inside while he snickered at his warped way of looking at things.
The inside of the dome was the same except it had been formed around the muddy ground so Alex had a nice soupy bed to sprawl out on. After crawling all the way inside, he turned around to see that V.V. was pushing the large circular disk that they’d somehow cut out of the dome back over the opening. His Orbs all floated in to join him before V.V. covered the opening. V.V. left a sliver large enough for itself and the Orbs to go in and out. Alex watched as V.V. slipped out of the opening to do something on the outside and he thought that his Orbs should help his companion with whatever she needed. She? Alex thought to himself. I guess they do sound feminine. I wonder if V.V.’s a girl cueball or a boy cueball? He chuckled to himself before he finally fell asleep and not just a forced unconscious state.
Al…
Ale…
“Alex!” V.V. said loudly.
“Huh…? Wha-what?” Alex said, coming too from the best he’d had in ages. Rain could be heard pouring down outside the dome.
“Alex, it has been almost two hours since you fell asleep. The storm passed by for a while and monsters started to come out in larger numbers than I anticipated. I decided that allowing you to rest more in order to prepare you for combat was best. However, it has begun to rain once more and is an ideal time to move.”
“…Right.” Alex said, still on the edge of sleep. He slowly pushed himself into a sitting position and looked around himself. All four of his orbs were slowly rotating around the dome ceiling and V.V. was hovering near the entrance. He felt a pang of hunger once again and looked to Ruby and Opal as they swooped down to hover above his hands. This time he received a large dill pickle in his left hand and a block of what ended up being mild cheddar cheese in his right hand. He chuckled to himself at the randomness of the skill but ate both dishes greedily.
“Ok V.V. So, we need to move… I guess I’m ready when you are.” Alex said after scarfing down his two oddly delicious morsels.
“Yes. Let’s move now.” V.V. said and slid the domes makeshift door out of the way.
Alex scooted out of the dome feet first so that he didn’t have to dive into the several feet of water that had accumulated just outside the dome. He sunk into the water before climbing his way out of the pit. He thought he’d struggle a bit to get out but it wasn’t much of an issue at all. The stats were showing themselves in subtle ways more than overt. After he was standing on the surface again, Alex was greeted by an expanded path that went at least another three to four hundred feet in the direction they were trying to head.
“Woah, what happened?” Alex asked, shocked by the progress.
“While you were sleeping, Ruby, Opal and I cleared more foliage to make the progress go a bit smoother.”
“This is great! My nap didn’t take as much time out of our journey as I thought it would.” Alex felt relieved that his nap hadn’t caused too much damage.
“You need as much rest as we can afford you. The thickness of these woods is actually a blessing in disguise in that regard. We’ll continue until you must rest again and dig out the same type of temporary shelter as this one, assuming the forest continues as it has been. Also, assuming we don’t run into monsters or other detours as well.”
“You consider monsters as detours?” Alex asked, shaking his head at his nonchalant companion. V.V. said the oddest things to Alex, and he was worried he was getting used to it.